


Easy Research

by gaylax_ies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Crushes, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Lance and Keith are dumb, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Swearing, Weirdness, pidge is a bit of a memer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:00:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9318251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaylax_ies/pseuds/gaylax_ies
Summary: Pidge has this whole "research" thing down to a science.





	1. Chapter 1

**DOCUMENTS**

** FOLDERS **

**_Shiro_  ** _: Morning Stretches_

**_Keith:_ ** _Crying/Overreacting_

 **_Lance:_ ** _Existing_

 **_Shiro:_ ** _Dancing_

 **_Hunk:_ ** _Midnight Snacking_

 **_Keith:_ ** _Twerking_

 

Pidge's time at the Castle of Lions has been eventful, to say the least, but there's always some downtime between their galactic adventures. And how does Pidge spend her downtime? Well, it's simple.

She stalks.

Pidge is the proud owner of dozens of gigabytes worth of embarrassing, blackmail-worthy material on all of her castle-mates, all of it organized into perfect folders, set up and stashed away in her locked desktop. She has footage of Keith stubbing his toe and crying, footage of Shiro practicing his dance moves in his bedroom, even footage of Lance practicing pick-up lines to his own reflection. And, between setting up the cameras in the different paladins' rooms to crawling through the air vents to listen in on Allura and Shiro's conversations, her "research" takes up the majority of her time off.

Well, what else is she supposed to do?

It started off as an easy weapon to use against Lance, a way of preventing him from putting all of her stuff on high shelves and then making fun of her when she couldn't reach things. She started taking videos and pictures of him singing in the shower, or getting his ass kicked by a practice bot, or kissing his own hand to "improve his technique", as he said.

And then it grew into something bigger.

It was fun, a way for Pidge to pass time and learn things about her fellow paladins. She's learned about Keith's sleep-talking, once hearing him tell Lance to go fuck himself. She's learned about Hunk's startling ability to breakdance. She's learned that Shiro is the castle's primary crop-dust offender, and she makes a point to call him out on weird smells just to see his face go red. 

She's also picked up on all of their bad habits. Shiro definitely doesn't drink enough water, she's sure of it. Hunk spends way too much time in the shower and he uses up all of the castle's hot water, then blames it on Lance. Keith isn't sleeping enough to support the amount of time he spends training, and when he does sleep, he's restless. Lance masturbates way too much, it's weird.

There are some things Pidge wishes she didn't know about her teammates.

 

They've got time off now, for the couple of days that it'll take to fly to a new planet. Instead of manning her live feeds, Pidge is in the kitchen with Hunk and Shiro, watching as Hunk tries to light a napkin on fire and Shiro scolds him.

"Has anyone seen Lance? Or Keith, for that matter?" She asks, tapping her fingers on the table. Hunk scrambles to put out the napkin, yelping as he burns the tip of his finger. Shirt rolls his eyes.

"Lance is training right now," he says, "and Keith? Well, he's probably on the floor somewhere." They all chuckle at that, no one in the castle a stranger to Keith's overdramatic actions. Pidge has seen him lie on the floor and cry silently for twenty minutes after slipping on a napkin. She's watching him flop face-first into the training mats after getting defeated by a practice bot. Assuming that the castle's resident drama queen was lying on the floor somewhere is probably correct.

"Should we go find him?" Hunk wonders, dropping the charred remains of his napkin into the trash while sucking on his index finger.

"Nah," Pidge and Shiro answer in unison, Shiro adding, "he's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go take a nap," Pidge declares, "if I see Keith on the way to my room I'll tell him to stop being dramatic."

"No! That'll just make him even more dramatic!" Hunk complains.

"I know."

 

Keith is lying on the floor, Shiro was right about that. Pidge picks him up on one of her monitors, Keith's motionless figure sprawled out in front of the training room door. He isn't being dramatic, isnt't rolling around or whining. He just looks like he's taking a nap.

_Weird._

It's weird, definitely, but Pidge isn't concerned. Keith's been known to sleep in stranger places than the training room hallway. Like the shower, for example, or behind the controls of the Red Lion. 

His lips are moving slowly; soft, incoherent words drifting out. Pidge notices with mild interest, Keith's sleep-talking being no secret to her.

Pidge watches as the training room door opens and Lance steps out, damp and a little bit shiny from sweat, his bayard clutched loosely in his hand. He regards Keith with amusement for a moment before stepping towards him and shaking his shoulders.

'Oh, hmm, yeah, 'm up, I'm up," Keith says sleepily, blinking rapidly against the light of the hallway. 

Lance chuckles, deciding to take the piss out of Keith. "Are you sure about that? You looked pretty dead there to me. Were you dreaming about something, or  _someone_ _,_ special?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Keith declares, the furrow to his brow looking strained and unnatural. Pidge cocks her head at the monitor, wondering if Lance picked up on Keith's defensive tone.

"Well, alright then, if you say so. Now, come on, get up," Lance says, rising from his crouching position in front of Keith and extending his hand. Keith stares at it for a moment before taking it, allowing Lance to pull him up of the floor. 

"Thanks," he mumbles, brushing off his legs. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get to my training. I've been waiting a while, you sure took your sweet time.

"Oh, no you don't," Lance says, grabbing Keith's wrist. "Keith, come on, you're exhausted, aren't you? You really should take a nap."

"I'm fine, Lance. Now do you wanna let me go, or do I have to fight you?"

"Keith," Lance whines, drawing out the word, "you can afford to take a day off, you know. You really do look tired."

"Ugh, fine. But where did all this caring come from?" Keith mocks with a smile.

"Consider it payment for the bonding moment where you cradled me in your arms."

"Oh? I thought you couldn't remember that?" Keith jokes with wide eyes, ramming his shoulder into Lance's as they walk away from the training room.

"Fuck off, Kogane."

 

One more thing that Pidge has learned through her research: Lance has a giant, planet-sized crush on Keith.

Also: Keith has a giant, planet-sized crush on Lance.

And, finally: They're both completely oblivious to the other.

There are definitely some things that Pidge wishes she didn't know about her teammates.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith is weird.  
****

He sleeps with all of his lights on. He has multiple copies of the same jacket, and he hides them all over the castle in case he loses one. He dances like a white dad, but he can twerk and grind like a stripper. He puts his hair in French-braided pigtails before going to bed.

_Weird._

Lance is weird too.

His hips don’t lie, he’s the most graceful dancer out of all the paladins. He cries over every movie he watches. He sings Fergie in the shower and he knows every single word. He can clean with a fiery, aggressive passion.

_Weird._

But Lance and Keith together are probably the weirdest.

If you haven’t seen them interact like Pidge has, it’d seem like they hate each other. Like they’re just two dumb teenage boys in a dumb, teenage rivalry. Which is true, most of the time. But Pidge can see more that that. 

Lance has a habit of falling asleep in other people’s beds. Even Pidge has had to deal with it a few times. The first time he fell asleep in Keith’s bed, Keith had pulled his pants down and farted directly in his face. By the time Lance had woken up and figured out what happened, Keith was already sprinting.

Every time after that, however, Keith just climbs in too, crawling over Lance to lie between him and the wall. And if they find their way into each other’s arms in the night, well, who’s Pidge to tell?

Other than Pidge, Lance is the only one who knows about Keith’s nightmares; nightmares that grip Keith with terror, causing him to toss and turn and cry out, to wake up sweaty and in tears. And, unlike Pidge, sometimes Lance is there to pull Keith into his arms, rocking him back and forth gently until he drifts back to sleep.

Lance is the one who braids Keith’s hair when he’s bored and restless. Keith is the one who sits in Lance’s room, watching with amusement as he sings and dances to his mother’s favourite songs. 

To outsiders, they look like enemies, but to Pidge, they seem like lovers.

It’s weird; really weird.

 

Pidge wakes up to screaming, again.

She lifts her face from her keyboard, blinking rapidly against the light from her computer screens as she waits for her eyes to adjust.

_"Goddammit_ ," she thinks, _"if I’m going to fall asleep at my computer I should at least turn the brightness down."_

Pidge’s eyes scan quickly over her monitors, fingers tracing the keyboard-shaped indents in her cheek as she searches for the source of the yelling. She winces when she realizes it’s from the men’s bathroom.

Now, putting a camera in the men’s bathroom isn’t something that Pidge is proud of, but how else was she going to get footage of Lance singing in the shower?

She full-screens the image, squinting at her computer as she takes it in. Keith is leaning against the counter with lips moving, looking like he’s trying to speak. His words, however, are drowned out by Shiro’s inhuman shrieking from behind the shower curtain.

“KEITH?! WHAT THE FUCK GET OUT OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN HERE? I LOCKED THE FUCKING DOOR! JESUS CHRIST OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL? LEAVE, HOLY SHIT!”

“Shiro, chill, I just wanted to ask about the training schedules,” Keith says, shrugging his shoulders.

“WELL, NOW IS NOT THE BEST TIME TO ASK! DUDE! I AM IN THE FUCKING SHOWER; MY DICK IS OUT.”

Pidge snorts, the thought of: _“Shiro: Screaming, Keith: Confused, Dicks: Out; Keith is forcibly removed from the bathroom,”_ coming to the front of her mind.

“Okay, okay, ‘m goin’” Keith says, raising his hands but making no moves to leave the bathroom.

“Oh my god, thank you,” Shiro sighs, shoulders visibly relaxing from behind the thin shower curtain. There’s a few minutes of silence before Keith speaks up again.

“Okay, but like-“

“KEITH!”

In other words, Pidge wakes up to a typical day in the Castle of Lions.

 

 

“Oh, hey, Pidge,” Shiro says later, greeting Pidge as she walks into the lounge.

“Hey, Shiro,” she replies, sitting on the couch opposite him. She watches Shiro flick his white tuft of hair out of his eyes, still damp from the shower. 

“Oh!” she exclaims, “I probably should’ve warned you, Keith has a habit of walking in when people are showering and trying to talk to them. So, even if you think the door is locked, prop it shut. That boy is a ninja.”

Shiro chuckles. “Thanks, Pidge,” he starts before frowning, “but wait, how do you know the Keith interrupted my shower? And how do you know that he’s done it more than once?”

_"Oh, shit. Lie,"_ Pidge thinks, _"lie lie lie lie lie._ "

“I could hear your screaming from three rooms away, and I’ve caught Keith in the act multiple times,” she says, trying to school her expression into something neutral. If Shiro finds out what she’s doing, he’ll scour the castle to find every camera. And, honestly, Pidge doesn’t really want to have to find a new hobby.

“Well, uh, alright. That’s weird. But I’m glad he doesn't just do it to me,” Shiro laughs, scratching the back of his neck.

_Crisis: Averted._

“Come on,” Pidge says, “would you expect anything less than weird from Keith?”

 

Lance is lying on his back on the floor of Keith’s room. Keith is sitting on the bed, his knees tucked up into his chest. His discarded jacket lies on the floor in a ball.

Pidge is watching from her bedroom, like a stalker.

“Keith,” Lance says softly, “are you okay? You’ve been acting kinda, I dunno, not-Keithy for a while.”

“Not-Keithy,” Keith deadpans, rolling his eyes.

“Shut up! You know what I mean,” Lance complains, rolling over onto his side to look at Keith more directly. Keith sighs.

“I’m fine, Lance, I’ve just been tired lately. That’s all.”

“Nope.”

“Huh?” Keith asks, somewhat startled, his nose crinkling in confusion.

“Nope,” Lance repeats, sitting up. “I don’t believe you. I really, one-hundred percent do not believe you. I’ve seen tired, grumpy Keith and this is not him. This is a new, different Keith, and I don’t like it. Where’s the annoying, pain-in-the-ass Keith that I know and don’t love?”

“I’m right here, dumbass,” Keith replies. He still looks confused and mildly annoyed, but now there’s a soft smile gracing his lips. 

“Are you sure that nothing’s wrong?” Lance asks, smirk falling on his lips to make room for a sad, gentle grin.

“Yes, Lance,” Keith sighs, dragging his fingers through his hair.

“You can tell me if something’s up, you know?”

“I know, Lance. Thanks.”

“Okay,” Lance says, rising and brushing off his jeans, “I’m gonna go take a nap. You should too. Try to get some sleep, mullet.”

“Thanks, mom,” Keith retorts with a vicious eye-roll. Pidge still sees him smile warmly at Lance’s back.

 

**DOCUMENTS**

**FOLDERS**

_**All:** Showers_

This is by far Pidge’s favourite folder. Not because her teammates are showering, no way, that’s disgusting, but because it’s funny as fuck.

She clicks her sub folder for Shiro, adding in his interaction with Keith from this morning. Then she clicks back, checking over the rest of her folders, making sure that everything is neat and organized.

Someday, she’ll show these folders to the rest of the team. Maybe it’ll be soon, maybe it’ll be in years, when their time as paladins is over. But there is once folder that she’ll never, ever show anyone.

**DOCUMENTS**

**FOLDERS**

_**Keith and Lance** _

 

————-  
****

 

 

Keith isn’t okay. He’s never going to admit it, but he’s not.

And it’s all Lance’s fault.

Stupid Lance.

Stupid Lance and his stupid competitiveness that always makes Keith want to try harder. Stupid Lance and his stupid jokes that always force Keith to choke on his laughter. Stupid Lance and his stupid face and stupid eyes and stupid body that make Keith feel warm inside.

Stupid, stupid Lance. 

 

Keith is stretching in the corner of the training room, his feet spread apart while his hands press to the floor between them. Lance is in the corner across from him, bouncing on the balls of his feet and punching the air. Keith can’t hear from where he is, but it really looks like Lance is talking to himself.

Stupid Lance.

“YO, KEITH!” Lance hollers, far too loudly. Keith jumps, Lance’s shout disturbing him from him angry staring.

“What?” He snaps, rolling his shoulders in big motions, throwing his arms up in the air. 

“You good to go?” Lance yells, quieter this time. Keith nods in response, grabbing his bayard off the floor beside him and jogging into the middle of the room. Lance comes up beside him and they take position, back to back, pressed against each other.

“You sure you’re ready?” Lance asks teasingly, tipping his head back to rest on Keith’s shoulder. Keith just tries not to choke.

Stupid Lance and his stupid way of making Keith develop stupid feelings. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. 

 

“Lance! Watch your back!” Keith shouts, swiping his foot under Lance’s and purposefully knocking him onto his ass. And then he swings his sword right over the top of Lance’s head, slicing through the training bot that’s right behind him.

“Woah,” Lance gasps, “that was a close one.”

“No shit, if I hadn’t saved your ass you would’ve gotten wrecked by a practice dummy. How would you live that one down, golden boy?” Keith mocks, still reaching down to help Lance up.

“Aww, Keith, don’t be mean,” Lance whines, accepting Keith’s hand. “Nice job though, I mean it. I would’ve been toast if it weren’t for your quick thinking.”

“Ah, well, we’re teammates, so,” Keith stutters, flushing red as he pulls his hand from Lance’s grip.

“Damn right we are. And I, your beloved teammate, am hungry as fuck. Let’s go eat, how ‘bout?”

“Nah,” Keith says, “I’m gonna keep practicing. You can go, though.” Keith can hear the plead in his voice, asking Lance to leave him alone so he can school his face out of it’s embarrassing red tint and take out his Lance-fuelled rage on some practice bots. Lance, however, has other ideas.

“Nope, no way, wrong answer. You can come with me to eat, or I can carry you to the kitchen. What’s your choice, pretty boy?” Lance says with a smirk, getting right up in Keith’s face. 

Keith chokes.

“Well, I guess you’ve decided,” Lance declares, “up you go!” Then he's swooping down, pressing his shoulder into Keith’s stomach and wrapping his arms around the backs of Keith’s knees. Keith screams as he’s hoisted up over Lance’s back.

“Oh- OH MY GOD! LANCE, PUT ME DOWN! PLEASE? LANCE I SWEAR I’M GOING TO KICK YOU-“

 

“I really can’t understand your love of food goo, Hunk. It’s just an unappealing blob of green junk,” Pidge complains, grimacing at her plate and pushing the goo around with a spoon.

“Eh,” Hunk shrugs, “you just kinda get used to it. Plus, it’s food, Pidge. Food is always great.”

“But, like, it’s gross-“

“LANCE! PUT ME THE HELL DOWN! PLEASE? LANCE ON MY GOD YOU’RE GONNA DROP ME PUT ME DOWN!”

“Is that… Keith?” Hunk asks, staring out into the hallway through the open kitchen door.

“Ow! Holy shit, Keith! Stop kicking me!”

“And… Lance?” Pidge says, following Hunk’s gaze.

“LANCE, LANCE, CONSENT, I DO NOT AGREE, RELEASE ME. RIGHT NOW. PLEASE?” Keith continues to scream as Lance rounds the corner into the kitchen. Lance lowers towards the floor and then drops Keith on his ass with an “oof.”

“Special delivery!” Lance announces, setting his hands on his hips proudly as Keith glares up at him from the floor.

“I didn’t order this,” Pidge quips, “can you take it back?”

“Hey, Pidge!” Keith whines, pressing his hand to his chest in mock offence. 

“Oh, stop being a drama queen, Keith,” Lance teases, reaching out a hand to help him up. Keith levels a glare at it and stands by himself, continuing to scowl at Lance’s outstretched hand.

“You have more drama in your pinky finger than I have in my entire body, golden boy. Now, make yourself useful and get me some food goo,” he growls, flipping his hair over his shoulder as he turns away from Lance. Lance's smile falls ever so slightly, his brow furrowing as he watches Keith's back..

Pidge presses her fingers to her temples as though fighting off a migraine.

_“Oh my god,”_ she thinks, _“they’re so gay.”_

 

Lance doesn’t know how he feels. He’s bouncing on his toes in his room, unable to sit still. His face feels like it’s on fire. 

“Why did I do that? Oh, my god, I’m so stupid. I’m an idiot and now Keith is mad at me.”

The spot on Lance’s shoulder where Keith’s stomach had rested is burning.

“He’s mad at me, isn’t he? Oh, he’s definitely mad at me.”

Lance is a mostly rational guy, if, admittedly, a little stupid. He knows that Keith probably isn’t mad at him, maybe just a little annoyed.

But he still worries.

Keith’s face had been so red when he sat down to eat, and he refused to make eye contact with Lance for the entire time. When he was finished he immediately left the kitchen, not even looking back. Lance hadn’t seen him for two hours.

“I’m such an idiot!” Lance whined aloud, “I don’t want Keith to be mad at me!”

He’s still complaining loudly when Pidge walks in.

“Keith’s not mad at you,” she says simply, leaning against the wall next to Lance’s door. Lance jumps, tripping over his feet and falling over.

“Wh-what the heck, Pidge? Don’t just sneak up on me? And wait, how do you know that I think Keith is mad at me? Are you, like, psychic or something?”

“No, Lance, I’m not psychic,” Pidge deapans, “I could hear your whining from out in the hall.” 

“Oh,” Lance says sheepishly, avoiding Pidge’s eyes as he rises from the floor. “How do you know he’s not mad at me?”

“I just… do, okay? Keith was probably just embarrassed. I mean, you were pretty close to him.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Lance asks, “I’m close to him all the time, how else would we fight together?”

Pidge sighs, “you’re an idiot.”

“Hu- PIDGE?!”

“Figure it out, Lance,” she says, waving her hand lazily over her shoulder as she leaves.

“Hey, Pidge? Wait! What did you mean?”

 

_Stupid Lance._

Keith’s stomach burns where it had been pressed against Lance.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Lance._

His face is so red.

_Stupid, annoying, impulsive Lance._

He can still feel the fabric of Lance’s shirt where he’d clutched it between his fingers.

_Stupid, shitty, beautiful, amazing Lance_.

He presses his hand flat to his stomach and hunches over it, curling up in the hallway where he sits.

“Hey, Keith?” Pidge says softly, coming up behind him. Keith jumps, twisting his neck around to face her.

“Oh my god, Pidge. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Ah, that’d suck. We wouldn’t be able to form Voltron if that happened,” Pidge jokes dryly, sitting down beside him.

“You know,” Keith whines, “you could sound more concerned.”

“I am.”

“Oh, sure. Definitely.”

“I swear it, Keith. That’s why I’m here,” Pidge tells him as she pulls her knees up to her chest.

“Huh?”

“Lance is worried about you. He thinks you’re mad at him.”

“Well,” Keith huffs childishly, “I am.”

“No,” she says softly, “you’re not. And you need to go tell Lance that before he has a stroke.”

Keith frowns, eyeing Pidge with distrust. “Okay, you little caramel-haired Satan, what do you know?”

“Umm, Lance is scared of pine trees, so he absolutely hates Christmas? Hunk stress-eats, but he doesn’t only do it when he’s stressed, so he mainly just eats. Shiro’s shoe size is a 12? I know a lot, Keith, you’re gonna have to be more specific,” she says with a grin.

“I mean about me and Lance, Pidge!”

“Oh, well, sorry,” she responds, “I can’t tell you that. But, honestly, Keith, you should be able to figure it out on your own.”

“What does that even mean?” Keith cries, throwing his arms up in defeat. He knows that Pidge isn’t going to tell him anything, but he guesses that it’s still worth a shot.

“Oh, look at the time,” Pidge announces as she looks at her bare wrist, “I’ve gotta get going. Good luck, Keith!” she calls, not giving him a chance to reply before she’s up and retreating.

Keith just sighs. 

He’s never going to mention this to Lance.

 

“What was Pidge even talking about?” Lances asks out loud, “of course Keith is mad at me. I basically attacked him after he helped me out. Wow, I’m dumb. And so’s Pidge! I thought she was smart!”

He’s splayed out on his bed, legs trailing up the wall, staring at his ceiling. His interactions with Keith and conversation with Pidge are playing over and over in his head, and he tries to draw out as much information as possible from each. It mainly just annoys him, now.

“You know what, what does Pidge know anyway! She’s got no real right to go making inferences about me and Keith. And Keith! What right does he have to complain about me picking him up! He knocked me onto my ass during training! Like, sure, it was to save me, but still!”

Lance’s thoughts and opinions are conflicting, racing around in his head at a million miles per hour. But, in all the mess, there’s one thing he’s absolutely sure of.

He’s never going to mention this to Keith.

 

“I can’t believe this!” They didn’t- neither of them- what? How could they just ignore me like that! I- but like- the good of the team!” Pidge shouts, flailing her arms at the computer screen. It’s been over half an hour since she talked to Keith, and neither he nor Lance have gotten up to take her advice.

“Okay,” she growls to nobody, “if we can’t form Voltron because their stupid hormones get in the way, I’m going to kick their asses into the next century. They are going to apologize and make up, or else."

And then she sets to work.

She's going to find a way to get them to speak to each other, to truly tell each other everything. She's going find to a way for them to put their stupid crushes behind them.

Pidge doesn’t exactly want Lance and Keith to get together, not in the slightest. What she does want, however, is for their stupid pining to go away, to stop making them weird and awkward and annoying. Their poorly disguised feelings for each other are interfering with the rest of the team, and she's sick of it. She going to make them have a good old heart-to-heart and air out all their feelings and finally deal with things. And if they start sucking face, well, she can always turn the cameras off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! So, I'm Vi, if you wanted to know. I've written a bit of stuff on here, but none of it's Voltron and (tbh) all of it's bad. I'm not all that used to writing chapters over 1,000 words but I really want this fic to be fairly long w/o having 80 chapters. Plus, this fic isn't beta-read, so please forgive me for any errors! I'm an aggressive typer, so I tend to make quite a few. Finally, I'm going to try to stay on a regular schedule of updating every Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, so let's hope I can keep it up! Also, before I leave, comments and kudos are always appreciated and they raise my self-esteem like you wouldn't believe.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s late, Keith thinks. He hasn’t really known the proper time since he boarded the Castle of Lions, but his internal clock is screaming at him to go to sleep. Instead, he’s on the training deck, sparring with a practice dummy. He set the intensity up too high, he can feel it in fatigue settling into his muscles and panic messing with his brain. But he doesn’t want to end the sequence, doesn’t want to give up and admit that it’s too hard, so he keeps fighting, his movements getting sloppier with each passing tick.

“Goddamn, I’m tired.”

“DUCK!” is shouted out from somewhere across the room, and he follows the command instinctively and squats to the the floor. A second later, one of Lance’s blue lasers shoots over his head and through the bot, effectively ending the training sequence.

Keith flops down to the mat, lying on his back as his chest heaves.

“That was a close one,” Lance says, changing his bayard out of it’s gun form as he walks up beside Keith.

“I could’ve dealt with it myself,” Keith pants, his ribs aching and his lungs still struggling for oxygen.

“Oh yeah, totally, and Pidge is gonna win the prize for longest dick. You were struggling, Keith. Why can’t you admit it?”

“Fuck off, McClain,” Keith huffs, struggling up into a sitting position, “don’t sit next to me.”

Lance ignores him, plopping down on the mat beside him and fiddling with his bayard. They sit in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being Keith’s heavy breathing.

“Are you mad at me?” Lance asks suddenly, regarding Keith with an uncharacteristic seriousness that eats away at Keith’s resistance. 

“Yes,” he replies unconvincingly, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to meet Lance’s gaze.

“Keith, c’mon,” Lance begs.

“Fine. No, I’m not mad at you.”

“Then what was wrong? Earlier, I mean. Like, at lunch?”

“I don’t know,” Keith sighs, “it was kind of embarrassing, I guess. It’s not every day that I get tossed around like a rag doll.”

“Oh,” Lance says, “Keith, I’m sorry. I should’ve like, warned you or something. Or just let you keep training like you wanted too… I’m sorry-“

“Stop.”

“Huh?”

“Stop apologizing,” Keith demands, doing his best to cast aside his embarrassment and annoying and negative feelings. Hearing Lance apologize so earnestly makes him wish that he’d forgotten his pride and talked to him earlier. 

“You don’t need to apologize, Lance,” he continues, “it’s really no big deal. It was funny and it was honestly kind of fun and I was just surprised by it so I acted awkwardly. Honestly, I should be apologizing to you, so how about neither of us apologize at all. Okay?”

Lance’s shock is apparent on his face, his eyebrows raised as he blinks in surprise.

“But- like-“

“No! No apologies, Lance! Just- be quiet for a minute, okay?” Keith begs, pressing his hands to his face and staring at Lance through the cracks in his fingers.

“C’mon, Keith,” Lance says hesitantly, but with the trace of a smirk on his face, “you, of all people, should know that I can't be quiet.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Fuck off, McClain,” he says again, shoving his shoulder against Lance’s. Then he rests there, letting himself press into Lance, “I’m just tired and lazy and in no way enjoying this” repeating in his head like a prayer. Lance doesn’t seem to mind, doesn't react in any way, just braces himself to better support Keith’s weight.

_Stupid Lance._

Keith’s heart is racing.

_Stupid Lance._

His mouth is going dry.

_Stupid me._

_Stupid Lance._

_Stupid feelings._

_Shit._

“Keith? Are you okay?”

_Shit._

“Hmm?” Keith responds, trying to sound casual, like his body isn’t going into overdrive.

“Are you okay? I mean, like, you’re still acting Not-Keithy. Is there anything you wanna talk about, maybe?” Lance asks, trying to keep his tone light and open. Keith can hear the genuine caring and concern seeping in through his words.

“Um, no, not really. You?” Keith replies. He’s lying through his teeth, he knows it. He’s got a big, unrequited crush on Lance but he can’t tell him that, no way in hell. If Lance knew, it’d just scare him off, and Keith would rather have Lance oblivious and still beside him. So he’s just going to ignore those stupid feelings; repress and deny them until they snuff themselves out.

“Nah.” Lance says. Keith can hear Lance’s uncertainty in his voice, and he knows that Lance doesn’t believe him. He closes his eyes, steeling for more questions, but they don’t come. Instead, Lance says, “do you ever think about earth?”

“Huh?”

“You know,” he explains, “earth. Like, home.”

“Um,” Keith says, “sometimes, I guess. I don’t really have much back there to think about. You have a family though, right?”

“Yeah,” Lance replies, “a huge one. And, sometimes, I just look up into the sky and remember that they’re somewhere out there. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them. They’re probably worried, I think. I just disappeared, pretty much, and I doubt that the Garrison had much to tell them about my whereabouts. And I’ve probably missed so, so much. My brother Danny and his wife are expecting another baby, Keith! Or maybe they’ve already had it. Who knows how long we’ve really been up here. And I probably missed Cleo’s birthday, even though I promised I’d send her a card. I- I miss them, you know, Keith?”

Keith bites his lip. Never in a million years did he think he’d be sitting on the training deck late at night, listening to Lance pour his heart out. Never did he think that he’d actually feel empathy for him, feel his heart ache in his chest as he takes in Lance’s words.

“I’m sure they miss you, too,” Keith says, without thinking, and suddenly he’s pouring his mind on the floor at Lance’s feet. “I’m sure that they look out at the stars and just know that you’re out there, and that you're doing amazing things. And they wait for the day that you come home. And I’m sure that they don’t hold anything against you, and that they’re going to welcome you in with the warmest smiles and biggest hugs regardless of whose birthdays you missed. And I’m sure that they trust you to come back home safe.”

Keith’s shoulder is still pressed to Lance’s as he says all this, and he keeps his eyes glued to the mat in front of him. Then he hears Lance sniff beside him, and suddenly there are arms tight around his waist and a face pressed to his shoulder.

_Oh no._

Keith isn’t used to people crying in front of him, has always avoided emotional situations like the plague, so he just keeps his mouth shut and rests his hands on Lance’s shaking back. He holds Lance for a while, completely silent, letting Lance cry into the collar of his t-shirt. He thinks back to what Lance does when Keith has nightmares, how Lance rocks him gently and rubs his back in small circles, and his does his best to emulate that. Lance cries for a few moments before pulling back, leaving one hand on Keith’s waist while the other comes up to wipe at his eyes. Keith just looks at him.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lance says, dropping his other hand from Keith’s waist and moving to back away. Keith’s hands instinctively tighten in the back of Lance’s t-shirt.

“Hey,” he warns, “no apologies, remember. And I know I might not be the most empathetic or emotional person, but it’s okay to cry. Crying is natural. I get that.”

“But, still, I-“

“Don’t.”

“Fine, then, uh… Thank you. Thanks for staying here and supporting me. Is that better than an apology?” he asks, a weak defensiveness in his voice as he rubs his eyes.

“Much,” Keith replies with a gentle smirk. They sit in silence for a bit, save for Lance’s quiet sniffing. Keith’s hand is still tangled in Lance’s shirt and if Lance has noticed, he’s not saying anything.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance says softly after a couple of minutes.

“Mhmm?”

“What do you miss about home?”

“Uh- what?” Keith asks, the sudden request catching him off guard.

“What do you miss about earth?” Lance repeats, “you know, like, how I miss the garlic knots and my family and things. What are those things to you?”

“Oh, umm… I dunno, really,” Keith responds, “the rain, maybe? I always like the way it smells when it rains. And I miss my house. The castle is nice, but it just feels so… huge and alive. My home back on earth was just… small. And I miss eating actual, normal food. I’d kill for like, a sandwich or something right now.”

Lance’s eyebrows raise slowly over his slightly red eyes. “A sandwich?”

“…yeah.”

“What kind of sandwich?” he questions slowly, his hand coming up to cradle his chin.

“Um, I don’t know, turkey?” Keith says, bewildered as he takes in Lance’s surprised and mildly disappointed stare. “What? Turkey is good!”

“Keith, buddy,” Lance drawls, “you could dream about any food in the world, any at all, and you choose to dream about a turkey sandwich? Seriously? That’s the most boring sandwich in the entire universe!”

“Ah- hey! You asked! Don’t blame me for being honest!”

“When we get back to earth, I’m going to make your palate less boring. I swear; I’ll do it if it kills me. My Abuela makes amazing buñuelos, which are fried dough balls, kinda like donuts but way better. I’ll try to bring you some. Or, better yet, I could just bring you to meet her! I’ll just hand you over to my grandma like a sacrificial offering and let her force-feed you things that are far superior to turkey sandwiches.”

And, with that, it feels like all of Lance’s negative emotion is gone. Keith is relieved and perfectly content to sit and laugh as Lance shakes his shoulders and talks excitedly about all of the different Cuban cuisine he’s going to make Keith try. 

Mainly, Keith is just glad to have the excitable, loud, happy Lance back.

They wind up passing out on the mats of the training deck that night, and only one thought crosses through Keith’s head as he drifts off to sleep, back to back with Lance.

_“He wants me to meet his grandmother.”_

 

“Wha- what the hell are they doing in there?” Pidge says to nobody, her eyes scanning her computer screen. Lance and Keith are lying on the floor of the training room, Lance’s shoulder pressed firmly into Keith’s back, Keith’s sword still drawn and abandoned on the floor next to them.

“ _Should I bring in a med kit?”_ She wonders, _“what if they knocked each other unconscious?”_

She starts scrolling back through the night’s other footage, looking for answers.

“Bingo.”

She watches Lance and Keith talk, fast forwarding through the lulls, trying to piece the events together. She stops short when she sees Lance start crying.

She thought she knew all of the sights that could be found on the castle of Lions. She’s seen Shiro lip-sync to himself in the mirror, and Hunk somersault down an empty hallway, and Keith pull off a perfect split. But, of the million things she’s seen in the castle, Lance crying is not one of them.

She stops the video then, fighting of the curious instincts that compel her to keep watching. Whatever happens after that, she obviously isn’t meant to see. 

 _“Everything’s coming up Pidge,”_ she thinks, _“I didn’t even have to bully or manipulate them into talking to each other, they just did it themselves. Fuck yeah.”_

 

“Okay,” Shiro says through gritted teeth, “where the hell are Lance and Keith.”

“Training deck,” Pidge replies nonchalantly over her bowl of food goo.

“What? But they aren’t on the schedule-“

“Oh, they're not training. They’re literally just asleep on the training deck.”

“W-what?”

 

“UUUGGHHHH”

The sound of groaning and joints cracking rouses Keith from his sleep. He groans too, not as loudly, and rolls away from the noise to press his face too the mat. He’ll be damned if he doesn’t take advantage of the first good rest he’s had in months.

“Keith….”

“Fuck off.”

“KEEEEIIIITTHH!”

“Fine!” he growls, rolling back over towards Lance with eyes still closed, “what?”

“I’m hungry,” Lance whines.

“Then go eat, dumbass,” Keith replies plainly, moving to turn away again. Lance grabs his shoulder.

“I’m not just gonna leave you here to sleep on the training deck,” Lance says, his amused smile picking up in his voice.

“We’re on the training deck?” Keith wonders. Oh. Well that explains why his back hurts, and why he’s so cold. He still has no desire to move.

“Keith!” Lance says urgently, repeatedly poking him in the chest.

“What!” Keith snaps, finally opening his eyes. The light from the training deck is blinding, and he blinks against it while waiting for Lance to come into view. Before he’s ready, Lance’s hands are gripping his elbows, dragging him up to a sitting position.

“Keith?” he asks softly, his tone going serious, “have you been sleeping properly?”

“Huh?”

I don’t know, it’s just- it was two in the morning when I came in here, and that’s really late for most people’s bodies. And I see you wandering the halls at night sometimes, and, I don’t know, maybe you should tell someone if you aren’t sleeping. Like Shiro or someone.”

Keith rubs his face with his hand. “I’m fine, Lance. And I’ve never slept well, not even since I was a kid.”

He’s lying through his teeth, and he can feel his lion’s presence in the back of his mind. She’s growling at him, scolding him, saying, “tell Lance the truth. Be honest with him; he can help you.” Keith just shuts her out, ignoring the angry roar that she leaves ringing in his ears.

“Are you- are you sure?” Lance asks, studying Keith’s face with genuine concern.

“Yeah, certain.”

“Okay,” Lance says before standing up. “Oh, also,” he continues, “we’re late. So… race ya, and whoever gets to the kitchen last takes the brunt of Shiro’s wrath!” and then, he’s sprinting.

“Wha- FUCK! Lance! No fair!”

 

As it turns out, both of them get an earful from Shiro. He scolds them about punctuality and responsibility and actually taking things seriously as they eat, and then continues his lecture as they walk out to the control room.

“Hey,” Hunk greets with a wave as they enter, “wanna tell us why you guys were sleeping in the training room? ‘Cause we made bets and stuff.”

“Um…” Lance and Keith say in unison.

“Okay!” Shiro declares, clapping once, “as much as I want to know too, we don’t have time for that now. Thanks to Tweedledee and Tweedledumbass over here, we’re a little late for training.” He delivers the insult with his same monotone, commanding captain voice, but the good humoured smile on his face gives him away.

“Dibs on Tweedledee,” Keith says quietly, laughing at Lance’s offended yelp and the light backhand he lands on Keith’s chest.

 

“I’m sorry, Red,” Keith directs at his lion, “really sorry. And you’re probably right, but it’s- I don’t know- I’m not sure what to tell him. But I’ll try to talk to Shiro about it soon, maybe,” he promises. He can still feel Red’s hostility and grudge towards him, but she reaches out to connect with him anyway. Keith huffs a sigh of relief.

“Okay,” Shiro directs over the the intercom, “today we’re going to be improving our bonds with our lions and with each other. We won’t be fighting, so just relax and keep your minds open.” 

“Well, that sounds fun, doesn’t it, Red?” Keith asks sarcastically, taking off and manoeuvring in slow arcs, just a few feet off the ground. The thought that Red sends him feels like something akin to an eye roll. “I know, girl, I know.”

Keith’s content, letting Red fly in circles of her own accord. He reaches out with his mind, connecting with the other paladin’s, letting their thoughts and emotions surface in his own head. Pidge is rooting around in his thoughts, he can feel her, but he doesn’t know what she’s singing or looking for. He sends her a passive-aggressive “finding anything?” and her embarrassment bubbles up in his head, manifesting as a blush on own his cheeks.

He watches his own reflection in the glass as Red speaks to him, banter mixed with genuine concern and caring as she looks through his thoughts and emotions. His irises are burning bright red in response to her presence, which had taken a while to get used to. He’s used to it now, it’s just a regular part of connecting with Red and it happens to all of them. They’d all decided a few weeks ago that Shiro was the creepiest, all visible parts of his eye turned black when he was communicating with his lion.

After a couple more minutes of idling, he feels Blue’s connection rushing through Red in a way that he can’t understand. It lasts for just a moment before Red is commanding his attention, urgently telling him to “pull your connections back, now,” with a mix of panic and amusement.

It takes Keith a moment to figure out what she means, and by then, it’s too late. He can feel Lance in his mind, viciously taking hold of his thoughts and not letting go. Red just sighs.

“So,” Lance says over the com, his voice betraying the shit-eating grin on his face, “I was thinking-“

“Oh no,” Pidge interrupts.

“Rude, Pidge. But anyway, back to my thought,” Lance continues, “this mind thing connects all of our thoughts, right? So, if I were to get a song stuck in my head, would it get stuck in all of your heads, too?”

“Lance, no,” Shiro starts. He’s drowned out by Hunk’s loud voice.

“Hit it, Lance!”

“Mamita, yo se que tu no te me vas a quitar-” 

“DURO!”

“lo que me gusta es que tu te dejas llevar-”

“DURO!”

Lance and Hunk are in his mind, singing Gasolina in rapid-fire Spanish. He reaches out weakly to Shiro and Pidge, searching for some kind of support. Red just shakes with amusement, he can feel her laughing in his head.”

“Is this what death feels like?” he asks her. She just laughs more. “This is revenge, isn’t it, Red! I said I’m sorry!” 

The Red Lion roars aloud at him, her amusement echoed by the Blue and Green Lions.

“A ella le gusta la gasolina-“

“Dame mas gasolina!”

“PIDGE?!” Shiro and Keith shout simultaneously thought the intercom.

“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” she declares with a laugh before launching fully into the song. Keith can feel her voice reverberating in his brain, she and Hunk stumbling over some of Lance’s Spanish.

He can feel Red moving around in his his head. “Green paladin’s got a point, you know,” the lion tells him, almost like a challenge. Her amusement is still apparent in his thoughts.

Keith just sighs and relents.

And when Allura enters their brain-space to check on their training and winds up getting assaulted by Daddy Yankee, well, Shiro has a lot of explaining to do. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys so I'm super-white and super-Canadian, so all of my knowledge on Cuban cuisine is from Google. Pardon me if I am misinformed!!


	4. Documents: Showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kind of just a quick filler chapter, I'm sorry! I had exams this week, so I didn't have much time to write. However, I'm writing a new Klance AU right now, so expect that soon! And you should check out my [Klance Mermaid AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9465386l) if you haven't already! Finally, you can reach me [HERE](http://fukurodani-jpeg.tumblr.com) at my tumblr if you want!

**DOCUMENTS**

**FOLDERS**

**All:** Showers

It’s no secret that Lance likes to sing in the shower, and that he likes to sing loudly. He also showers frequently, something about having to “impress the ladies,” so more often than not, his voice can be heard ringing throughout the castle.

“I heard that you were talking shit and you didn’t think that I would HEAR IT-”

“Be my bad boy, be my man, be my weekend lover but don’t be my friend-”

“All the time I turn around brothers gather round always looking at me up and down looking at my-“

“LANCE.”

 

When Keith gets in the shower, it’s like a full-frontal return to the Black Parade. All he sings is Emo Trinity music, and he belts it like nobody’s business.

“I wrote a goodbye note in lipstick on your arm when you passed out! I couldn’t bring myself to caaaall, except the call IT QUITS-”

“I gaaave youuuu blood, blood, gallons of the stuff! I gave you all that you can drink and it will never be enough-”

Also, Keith likes to dance. The only issue is that he can’t, not for the life of him. He just artfully flails to whatever song he’s singing, splashing water all over the bathroom.

“Baby, seasons change but people don’t and I’ll always be waiting in the back room! I’m BORING but I over comp-en-sate with headlines and flash, flash, flash photography-”

 

There are two types of Shiros in the shower. There’s showering-in-the-morning Shiro, and showering-at-night Shiro.

Morning shower Shiro always sings Nickelback. Every. Single. Time. Completely un-ironically.

“If today was your last day, and tomorrow was too late, could you say goodBYE to yesterday-”

“If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, then we'd see the day when nobody died-”

Night shower Shiro was a completely different story. He sings current indie hits, complete with sexy dance routines that should be all-around disgusting, but just aren’t.

“Shut your mouth, baby, stand and deliver, holy hands that make me a sinner-”

“I need noise, I need the buzz of a sub, need the crack of a whip, need some blood in the cut-”

Pidge still isn’t sure what Shiro she finds more entertaining.

 

Now, even though Pidge controls all of the cameras, it doesn’t mean that she’s immune to all of her video-taking. She can’t remember where half of the cameras are, and, even if she could, they’re still always rolling. There’s no way to escape it.

When she’s in the shower, she doesn’t sing. She roasts, usually, or aggressively rants.

“Okay, so this BITCH has the audacity to tell me ‘oh, don’t speak to the princess like that’ like bITCH, THE PRINCESS OF WHAT? That HOE ain’t no princess of mine, motherfuCKER! GET SOME-A THIS!”

However, Pidge holds a secret rapping ability that only ever comes out when she’s dead on her feet or relaxed in the shower.

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy; there’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti. He’s nervous but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop BOMBS, but he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down. The whole crowd goes so loud, he opens his mouth but the words won’t come out. He’s CHOKING now, everybody’s JOKING now, the clock’s run out, time up, over, BLOOW-“

 

And then, there’s Hunk.

“I'm sexy, I'm cute! I'm popular to boot! I'm bitchin', great hair! The boys all love to stare! I'm wanted, I'm hot! I'm everything you're not! I’m pretty, I'm cool! I dominate this school!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs that I used are:
> 
> LANCE:  
> Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani  
> Bad Boy - Cascada  
> Fergalicious - Fergie
> 
> KEITH:  
> Bang the Doldrums - Fall Out Boy  
> Blood - My Chemical Romance  
> The Take Over, The Break's Over - Fall Out Boy
> 
> SHIRO:  
> If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback  
> If Everyone Cared - Nickelback  
> River - Bishop  
> Blood In The Cut - K.Flay
> 
> PIDGE:  
> Lose Yourself - Eminem
> 
> HUNK:  
> I'm Sexy, I'm Cute - Bring It On


End file.
